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Date: 9/5/2018
LONGMEADOW – Following the Aug. 27 joint meeting between the Select Board and School Committee, on Sept. 4, the two governing bodies appointed Armand Wray to the vacant seat on the School Committee.
At the Aug. 27 meeting, the Select Board and School Committee interviewed Heather Goldstein, Jeffrey Klotz, James Ryan, Jill Shaw and Armand Wray for the open seat. Each applicant was able to give a three-minute statement as to why they should be appointed to the seat. Following the statement, there was a question period.
Wray introduced himself, sharing that he and his family moved to Longmeadow in 2006, a year after his now 18–year–old daughter Chloe was accepted to Longmeadow schools through school choice.
“We moved here because we loved Longmeadow, we already had the schools through school choice, but we didn’t have the community, and that’s why we moved here,” Wray said.
Wray and his wife have two other children, Amelia who is an eighth grader at Glenbrook Middle School and James who is a fourth grader at Center Elementary School.
A few years after the Wray family moved to Longmeadow, Wray decided to run for the School Committee. The first time was an appointment position, which he did not get. The year after he ran for a seat and came in fourth out of six people vying for the spot. Soon after, a seat on the School Committee became vacant and he was appointed to the seat and served for three years. Wray could not continue to serve following the three years due to the company he worked for merging, which took up a lot of the time that he had previously devoted to serving on the School Committee.
“I fully understand what it takes to be a positive, impactful member of the School Committee and the time commitment it takes. I’m at a different point in life now,” he reassured the committee and board.
Wray listed the experience he would be able to bring to the School Committee, including the experience of working on the new high school through his previous time on the School Committee and being on the finance subcommittee for a number of years.
During the question and answer period, School Committee member Beth Baron asked Wray how he felt about making policies and completing tasks that are ultimately for the benefit of the district however may not be looked at in a positive light by all of the members of the town. Wray reassured her, relating back to his past on the Committee stating that building a new high school wasn’t necessarily looked at favorably by townspeople. With that said, he feels that ultimately the residents of Longmeadow knows that the School Committee is making decisions that will be for the benefit for students.
“We have a community that can have differences, have a great discussion around the differences and then still come together as friends at the end of the day because it’s not personal,” he responded.
At the Sept. 4 joint meeting, the two governing bodies voted, with Wray receiving six votes, Heather Goldstein with four votes and James Ryan with one vote. Following his appointment, Select Board Chair Mark Gold suggested Wray go to the Town Hall as soon as possible to be sworn into the position, and the joint meeting adjourned.
To watch the full interviews of School Committee candidates from the Aug. 27 meeting, go to Longmeadow Community TV’s livestream broadcast at https://livestream.com/longmeadow/events/8346914. To see the voting process, head to https://livestream.com/longmeadow/events/8357759.